Hawaii - Day Four

Day Four started much like every other day. We woke up bright and early, went out on the balcony to check the weather, see the ocean, and hear the waves as they hit the shore. Ah, almost like being at home. Not!

We got ready to go and headed to breakfast. We had eaten at the same restaurant the first two mornings and decided to try another restaurant this time, so we went to Tidepools. We walked down past the pool and over a small wooden bridge to enter the restaurant. The bridge was the walkway over the Koi fish pond. Was Lili ever excited to see all those fish and a swan as well.

We found a table near the waterfall. There is nothing more relaxing to us than the sound of water. Shortly after we sat down one of the employees came over to greet us and started talking to Lili. She asked me what her name was and commented on how beautiful she was. As we talked she asked where Lili was born. I told her, "Guatemala." She went on to tell me that she had a friend that worked at the restaurant next to the pool who is from Guatemala. She gave me her name and wanted us to find her. She said she would love to see Lili. Later that afternoon we went to the lagoon, but never found her friend from Guatemala. Maybe tomorrow.

Day Four was a special day because a friend of ours, who we hadn't seen in years, was flying up from Oahu. I was really looking forward to seeing him and visiting. We used to work together in Washington and had become very good friends. We left Washington and moved to Illinois. He and his family left Washington and moved to Hawaii. I think the last time we had seen each other was about 10 years ago. Our friend arrived around lunch time and we got to spend a couple hours catching up on things. It was a great visit, although not long enough. Next time we come to Hawaii we'll take a trip to Oahu as well.

We decided to wait for our friend down in the lobby area. This area of the hotel has beautiful plants, flowers, trees and even birds.

While we were waiting Lili watched a couple taking turns standing by one of the birds and taking pictures. She decided she wanted to do the same thing. For a minute I thought we might actually be getting some cooperation for this photo.

Apparently she liked watching more than participating in the photo op.

Later that evening we were leaving Lili with the sitter again for another group dinner. During the afternoon we found ourselves wondering how she would react when the sitter walked in. We both thought she would quickly realize what was happening and start crying. We got ready for dinner, got Lili cleaned up and ordered room service for one. While Lili was eating her dinner the sitter arrived. When she walked in the door Lili looked up at her, gave her a big smile and waved. Hum, guess she wasn't traumatized by us leaving her the first night after all. We talked to the sitter for a few minutes, gave Lili kisses and left. As we walked out we again expected to hear her cry, but nothing.

We headed downstairs to meet us with the rest of our group and enjoyed the beautiful evening on the terrace overlooking the ocean and then headed to dinner. There were tables of food set up all around the perimeter of a large grassy area and more tables set up inside the ballroom. In the center of the grassy area were Japanese style tables with pillows for sitting. The patio area leading into the ballroom had regular sized tables and even more tables were set up in the ballroom for sitting. Each food table was catered by a different restaurant at the hotel and some other restaurants on Kauai. Each restaurant prepared samples of somewhere between 2 and 4 dishes for us to sample. We would go choose 2 or 3 different samples, take them back to our table to try them and then make our way to the next food table. While walking to try another sample we ran into the employee we had met at breakfast that day, but she wasn't alone. Her friend from Guatemala was working with her that evening. Since they were working we didn't have much time to talk, but now we could put a face with a name. We chatted for a few minutes and told her that we would try to find her the next day. Also, since she knew what we looked like, she could look for us as well. It was very exciting to meet someone from Lili's birth country.

After several hours of sampling food, listening to the live band and enjoying the company of Dave's co-workers, we decided it was time to head back to our room so the sitter could go home. We got back to our room and Lili was sound asleep. The sitter told us that she had brought some toys and some pots and pans for Lili to play with. Lili had fun putting her french fries from dinner into the pots and pans and playing with the new toys. When she got tired she cuddled up to the sitter and fell asleep. Not one tear was shed during the evening. Success!!!

It was another wonderful day in Kauai.